Matthew Pouliot

The Diamondbacks currently have youngsters Didi Gregorius and Chris Owings fighting it out for their shortstop job, but they’ve weighed settling the battle with a trade, the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro reports. The preference would be to acquire a catcher who could potentially back up Miguel Montero in the near future and eventually supplant him…

In trading last year’s leadoff man, Norichika Aoki, and failing to add the quality left-handed-hitting first baseman they wanted, the Brewers have left themselves with the most unbalanced lineup in baseball. Here are the likely starters, along with my projection for each: C: Jonathan Lucroy (R) – .283/.337/.443 1B: Mark Reynolds (R) – .231/.328/.455 2B:…

Let the record show that I gave fair warning: I thought Buster Olney might adjust his lists from Monday’s ESPN Insider column after being presented with the glaring omissions. Alas, I was ignored. The bulk of Olney’s column today was designed to point out how totally not overrated Derek Jeter is. He dives into the…

At this point, the only thing standing between the Angels and being a largely irrelevant second banana in the Los Angeles market is Mike Trout. Yeah, Mike Trout, the guy they rewarded for a historic Rookie of the Year and near-MVP campaign in 2012 by paying him $20,000 more than the major league minimum. Even…

Not that he ever seemed particularly motivated by personal milestones, but any dream of 4,000 hits and a run at Pete Rose died for Derek Jeter when he suffered a fractured ankle in the 2012 postseason. Never healthy in 2013, he played in just 17 games due to a quad injury and continued soreness in…

We tried this with the rotations the other day. Once again, I’ll be dipping into my 2014 projections here to rank the bullpens. To come up with the following bullpen ERAs, I simply combined each team’s seven highest-IP relievers, according to my projections. AL Royals – 2.93 Red Sox – 3.14 Athletics – 3.16 Rangers…

Former major league All-Star Curt Schilling revealed Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with cancer. “I’ve always believed life is about embracing the gifts and rising up to meet the challenges,” the 47-year-old said in a statement. “We’ve been presented with another challenge, as I’ve recently been diagnosed with cancer. Shonda and I want to…

I’ll be dipping into my Rotoworld player projections from time to time for HBT posts. Here’s the first of this year: my ranking of each five-man rotation as we head into 2014. Before actually posting my 1-30, I’ll start with my raw ERA rankings by league. A couple of qualifications: I’m only using the top…

Speaking after his Cuban team was eliminated from Caribbean Series play, third baseman Yuliesky Gourriel said he’s still hoping a path opens up that allows him to play in the U.S. someday. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez has the story. “I’m happy for all the Cubans in the major leagues and we follow them even though we…

Former NBA star Tracy McGrady confirmed Tuesday that he will pursue a pitching career with the Atlantic League’s Sugar Land Skeeters this season. McGrady, who turns 35 in May, played 16 seasons in the NBA and made seven All-Star teams. He wrapped up his career last summer by playing in six postseason games with the…

Having finished with baseball’s worst record three straight years, the Astros have mastered the art of being bad. And it’s worked out for them; thanks to their early draft picks and some veteran-for-prospects trades, they now boast one of the game’s very best farm systems. That left the Astros with a decision to make entering…

When the Orioles signed shortstop J.J. Hardy to a three-year, $22.5 million extension in 2011, many figured he’d eventually become trade bait because of the need to make room for Manny Machado. However, with those two co-existing just fine in the Baltimore infield, Orioles GM Dan Duquette told MASN’s Roch Kubatko he will approach Hardy about…

When the Royals re-signed Bruce Chen to a one-year, $4.25 million contract this week, it was generally met with tepid approval. One could argue that he’s 90 percent of the pitcher Jason Vargas is for half of the salary and one-quarter the commitment. So, that’s not bad. But then came the fallout. First, it was…

With Alex Rodriguez spending the season on the restricted list, this season will be the first since 1999 to begin without a member of the 500-homer club on a major league roster. The last time MLB was played without a 500-HR guy was 15 years ago. Eddie Murray retired after the 1997 season, leaving a…

Michael Young led the American League in hits for the second time in his career in 2011, finishing with 213. That brought his career total to 2,061 through age 34, and despite a late start — he didn’t collect his first hit in the majors until age 24 — he appeared to have some shot…

Is it a conflict of interests if you’re not really a reporter? It appears NESN may think so. The Boston Herald’s Inside Track reports that Red Sox “sideline reporter” Jenny Dell has been reassigned by NESN after she and Boston third baseman Will Middlebrooks went public with their relationship on New Year’s Day by tweeting…

Someone is going to put him in jail, right? I mean, MLB’s chief operating officer Rob Manfred made it quite clear on 60 Minutes that the threat against Tony Bosch’s life, made by an associate of Alex Rodriguez, needed to be taken seriously, even if he couldn’t go into any details about it. It’s no…

Interviewed by 60 Minutes for Sunday’s show, former drug dealer Tony Bosch says he first met with Alex Rodriguez in 2010 and subsequently gave him numerous performance enhancers and supplements over the following two years, including the banned substances testosterone, hGH and insulin growth factor. Bosch said upon meeting Rodriguez the former MVP asked him…

Because one can never get too much of a head start. As Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas exit the ballot as Hall of Fame inductees, a new and nearly as intriguing class of first timers will arrive in 11 months: Randy Johnson: 5 Cy Youngs, 2nd all-time in strikeouts, 303 wins Pedro Martinez:…

Here’s the rundown of where this winter’s top 150 free agents are landing, continuously updated throughout the offseason. Re-signings are posted in red, while players signing with new teams are in blue. Stars denote players who received qualifying offers and thus will cost their new team a draft pick if they sign elsewhere. (Non-tenders have…

Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports that the Yankees are contemplating Mark Reynolds, Michael Young and Brian Roberts as they seek to add to their infield. Reynolds would be a re-signing after finishing last season with the Bombers. He hit .236/.300/.455 with six homers in 36 games with the Yankees and .220/.306/.393 with 21 homers in…

It’s a world gone topsy-turvy, I tell you. Billy Beane’s Athletics are going to spend about $10 million on closer Jim Johnson next year, even though their bullpen would seem to be plenty good without him. Meanwhile, the White Sox are playing at Oakland’s old game, trading their closers as soon as they can manufacture…

With second base now off limits for a good decade or so, the Mariners have to be open to moving Dustin Ackley and/or Nick Franklin. According to CBS Sports.com’s Jon Heyman, the Mets, Padres and Yankees have already inquired about Ackley. Ackley, the second overall pick in the 2009 draft, has hit a modest .245/.315/.354…

3:00 p.m. EST update: A source told the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro that the deal is done. The Diamondbacks will get Trumbo and two players to be named, and they give outfielder Adam Eaton to the White Sox and left-hander Tyler Skaggs to the Angels. Left-hander Hector Santiago will go from Chicago to Anaheim. Trumbo…

4:32 p.m. EST update: FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Rockies are acquiring Anderson from the A’s in return for left-hander Drew Pomeranz and right-hander Chris Jensen. Anderson’s addition will likely leave Juan Nicasio and Jordan Lyles battling for one spot in Colorado’s rotation. The A’s still have six starters without him, a total…